left eye unveiled
Bye Bye Birdy...
It's been an honor and a pleasure. Everything that has a beginning has an end...
"The city of sin is a pity on a whim
Good girls gone bad, the city's filled with them
Mami took a bus trip and now she got her bust out
Everybody ride her, just like a bus route
Hail Mary to the city you're a Virgin"
Good girls gone bad, the city's filled with them
Mami took a bus trip and now she got her bust out
Everybody ride her, just like a bus route
Hail Mary to the city you're a Virgin"
-Jay-Z, "Empire State of Mind"
Throughout this experience, I have gone back and forth time and again about the practicality of centering my recent research on the pop culture posturing of Beyonce. It's not just a question of worthiness - are there better places to be looking for patterns - it's also a question of reality. Beyonce's perceived reality, her public image, is almost completely fabricated. How can I trust it to give accurate clues to the answers of philosophical cosmic questions?
I don't. I trust my own eyes and ears. When I saw Beyonce performing "Hail Mary" in an open-faced wedding dress, I felt like I was being screamed at. That's what this research is beginning to feel like. Being screamed at.
The wedding dress is an obvious symbol of purity and chastity, not to mention sacred union. Performing with an open wedding dress is in and of itself a statement about the juxtaposition of the sacred with the sexual. Performing "Ave Maria" in such an outfit takes the point further, since Maria could refer to Mary, The Holy Mother [sacred] or Mary Magdalene, the accused prostitute [sex]. And since we're talking about weddings, it seems significant that Mary Magdalene was (allegedly) married to Jesus. Perhaps the notion that a trinity of Marys visited Jesus' tomb is also worth noting. Perhaps a connection to the term "marriage" (lets get Mary'd) is more than coincidence.
Mary Mary Red Blue
The wedding dress is an obvious symbol of purity and chastity, not to mention sacred union. Performing with an open wedding dress is in and of itself a statement about the juxtaposition of the sacred with the sexual. Performing "Ave Maria" in such an outfit takes the point further, since Maria could refer to Mary, The Holy Mother [sacred] or Mary Magdalene, the accused prostitute [sex]. And since we're talking about weddings, it seems significant that Mary Magdalene was (allegedly) married to Jesus. Perhaps the notion that a trinity of Marys visited Jesus' tomb is also worth noting. Perhaps a connection to the term "marriage" (lets get Mary'd) is more than coincidence.
MaDonna, Our Lady, Maria, Like a Virgin
the open veil; Our Lady GaGa...
Neo: I thought it wasn't real.
Morpheus: Your mind makes it real.
Morpheus: Your mind makes it real.
I was asked recently about the concept of overlapping patterns; I was literally at a loss for words. I started talking nonsense. Making extensive references to older articles has become necessary for every new one. There almost appears to be just one pattern, and I just get to see pieces at a time.
cross her heart...
First there was the(Bee)yoncé(Know)les, a study of Beyonce's connection to trinity and the first mention of her robot glove and it's connection to Oz's Tin Man. In Ego Eye, Idol Hand, Robot Heart, I discussed the glove further, explaining the beyonce-bot through Artificial Intelligence and Witchblade comics. The robot theme spilled over into Rhythm Heaven, Red Robots, Angels and Aliens spotlighting Ciara and the theme of split-personalities/dualism. A few posts later, an interesting comment inspired Sacred Sex, Popped Stars and the Holy Babble which brought Beyonce back centerstage addressing classic western views of sexuality. Speechless: Medium is Message continued that discussion with some new philosophies on duality in pop. After a long break, I started Wonderland, which was meant to be Beyonce's farewell. I guess it kinda had to be a trilogy all along.
both the white and red queens bow to gold
glove love at the 2009 VMA's
At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Beyonce gave up her acceptance speech time for pop-country songstress Taylor Swift (middle name: Alison) after Kanye West interrupted Swift's acceptance speech to protest the singer's [obviously undeserved] win over Beyonce for Best Female Video.
both the white and red queens bow to gold
glove love at the 2009 VMA's
At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Beyonce gave up her acceptance speech time for pop-country songstress Taylor Swift (middle name: Alison) after Kanye West interrupted Swift's acceptance speech to protest the singer's [obviously undeserved] win over Beyonce for Best Female Video.
They just happened to both be wearing red dresses. Coincidence? Maybe. But once I saw Lady GaGa take the stage for her acceptance speech, that coincidence pretty much went out [into] the window.
what's wrong with M&M
Lady Gaga changed outfits 4 times during the show (six if you count the post-show leotard and the after-party wedding dress pictured above), but for her one moment in the spotlight sun -for her own acceptance speech- she happens to be dressed as Wonderland's Red Queen, crown and all.
The White Queen, The Red Queen's Wonderland counterpart, has already been mentioned here via "Ave Maria". I don't quite understand the meaning behind this red/white duality yet. On the surface, I relate it to the whole good-girl-gone-bad pop trend, but I feel there is more complexity underneath.
"...when the Divine descends into the field of time, there is suffering, and there is compassion. The way back 'up' to the Divine is through the sacrifice. The gift is the door, the Holy Grail, the way between the pairs of opposites."
In The Matrix: Revolutions, Explained, Brian Takle breaks down the yin and yang of Neo by connecting the allegorical roles of Neo as compassion and Agent Smith as suffering. I see the compassion/suffering duality reflected in Revolutions' [queen] Persephone; as the White Queen, she suffers through her husband's infidelity, staying by his side, and has the compassion to lead Neo to his key[maker]. The dichotomy fits Mother Mary and the Magdalene as well, especially if we view Ms. Magdalene as a prisoner of her label [whore]; obeying the rules of Wonderland. Hence the shiny neckwear...
In case the syncs here aren't confirmation enough, Monica (middle-name Maria) Bellucci, the actress pictured above playing the red/white queen, also starred as -get this- a prostitute-turned-surrogate-mom in 2007's Shoot Em Up, the "Mirror Queen" in 2005's The Brothers Grimm, and Mary Magdalene herself in 2004's Passion of the Christ. Duality for days...
Monica Bellucci as Magdalen in The Passion
Bellucci, the queen, bathed in red from The Brothers Grimm
In Lady GaGa's VMA performance, the duality is confirmed when she turns a white [rabbit] costume red with blood. To make maters worse, she did it with one glove, complete with ruffles and lace (in case anyone missed the wedding dress connection). One hand covered in red blood, the other gloved in white lace. The placement of this bleeding is also telling; we can interpret this as some sort of stomach wound, or, given the spillage at her crotch and thighs, and her posture, a symbolic representation of a bleeding womb.
White Rabbit, Bloody Mary, sounds like a crazy person...
I could go into the imagery and context of the many references to womb attacks in film, but this piece is already running long, so I'll have to ask you to just fill in the patternistic blanks with your own memories. Can't think of any? Try these: Alien 3, X-Men:The Last Stand, Constantine, The Mummy Returns... Hint: the attacks in these films all happened near the end. Moving on...
"Like the movie itself, there is a lot of word play, a lot of hidden other meanings, a lot of multiple meanings... we also like the mathematical definition of the use of 'matrix', or the use of it in terms of a woman's womb."
Two weeks after the awards, MTV curiously played The Matrix:Revolutions as their primetime friday night movie. For the past few months, I've been rethinking this movie and the depth beneath the explosions and one-liners. The penetration of Zion's spherical shell by the sentinels seems to represent the penetration of an egg, or a womb ("deep underground... where it's still warm [hel]"), sentinels being the mechanical sperm. Something to ponder.
But again, I digress...
Lady Gaga's VMA costumes seemed completely ornamental at first; just a scream for attention. I wish I'd put the costume-show connections together myself, but someone else had already solved the puzzle for me without even knowing what they'd done. Awake while sleeping.
But again, I digress...
Lady Gaga's VMA costumes seemed completely ornamental at first; just a scream for attention. I wish I'd put the costume-show connections together myself, but someone else had already solved the puzzle for me without even knowing what they'd done. Awake while sleeping.
Lady GaGa's Middle
Shortly before this post was started, a rumor floated around that Lady Gaga was a hermaphrodite (someone born with both male and female genitalia). The rumor's source was suspect, and her camp denied it publicly, but for the purposes of the pattern, the truth of the rumor is irrelevant. Her projected image enforces the androgyny purposefully (just as with Madonna), and her public over-dedication to representing homosexuals worldwide pushes the point further.
Lady Gaga in drag
Androgyny -by way of girl-boy role swapping- has become a large part of homosexual culture, and in [less-than] subtle ways, pop culture. Our own Beyonce made it plain with her first video released from the I Am... Sasha Fierce album, "If I Were A Boy" (follow-up to Ciara's "Like A Boy"), and hinted at it with "Single Ladies."
"I’m gay. My music is gay. My show is gay. And I love that it’s gay. And I love my gay fans and they’re all going to be coming to our show."
Lady Gaga in drag
Androgyny -by way of girl-boy role swapping- has become a large part of homosexual culture, and in [less-than] subtle ways, pop culture. Our own Beyonce made it plain with her first video released from the I Am... Sasha Fierce album, "If I Were A Boy" (follow-up to Ciara's "Like A Boy"), and hinted at it with "Single Ladies."
...it's a man, baby
Anyone paying attention probably noticed Mariah (Mary) Carey's entry into this pattern with her new video "Obsessed" which curiously shares it's name with Beyonce's latest film role, and features Mariah dressed as a man. Mariah has also repeatedly done the alter-ego thing; first in her videos and lately in her album concept for The Emancipation of Mimi.
After her emancipation via I Am..., Beyonce's alter-ego adopted many of the stylistic signatures of drag queen culture [big hair, exaggerated eye make-up, sequins, etc], and started wearing padded leotards, hiding her natural curves behind the artifice of "glam".
Just what is that big-ass bow hiding?
The leotard, by the way, was actually designed to be a unisex garment...
In Magic Mirrors Part 1 : Through the Looking Glass, fellow researcher Yeshua breaks down the reoccurring leotards in the pop pattern; besides being a unisex garment, the leotard immediately makes you think of dancing. One one hand, dancing is a form of disassociation (move your feet, go someplace in your head) and commonly used to portray MK-Ultra-esque themes of conformity and control (don't think, just dance, follow the steps)...
Compassion / Suffering
leotards behind bars
Amber Rose, [warning; explicit] addressed below
Amber Rose, addressed below
On the other hand, a recent nightclub trip also re-revealed to me the spiritual power of dance; music taps the rhythm of spirit, and dance connects that spiritual rhythm to our physical [e]motions. Like so many things, it seems the best perspective is somewhere in the middle.
In the medium. In the media. In the [edit: mirror of the] message of the medium of the music of the ma-donna. According to Marshall McLuhan...
In the medium. In the media. In the [edit: mirror of the] message of the medium of the music of the ma-donna. According to Marshall McLuhan...
The above image is a still shot from Madonna's video "Hung Up", where she slips into a dreamworld with a dance. After a passionate homage to Travolta's famous choreography from Saturday Night Fever and Grease, she wakes up, having passed out on the floor of her dance studio. It was all a dream.
The cover features the Madonna in trinity, and the title reminds me of the image from Sacred Sex of Madonna "hung up" on a cross, as well as some Beyonce stage strangeness...
The cover features the Madonna in trinity, and the title reminds me of the image from Sacred Sex of Madonna "hung up" on a cross, as well as some Beyonce stage strangeness...
...and P!nk's purple, one-legged leotard performance at the 2009 VMA's, which mirrored the finale of Lady GaGa's stage circus.
purple = red + blue
P!nk in purple, Madonna getting "Hung Up"
Before Lady Gaga was Lady Gaga, she was Stefani. Stefani released an album sans ornament called Red and Blue. In Wonderland Part 1, I observed the masculine/feminine duality of the red/blue symbolism that pushed its way into my studies of the medium in Gnosis/Hypnosis/Hypocrisy/Heresy and Know/Now/No/Gnosis/Hypnosis...
This eerie coincidence combined with GaGa's affinity for leotards seems to confirm the androgyny theme further.
Beyonce, her boyish sister, her masculine other-self
Like Madonna, Lady GaGa's projected androgynous image is very indirect and almost completely illusory, and therefore completely arguable, unlike the popularly occult androgyne she patterns her image after, David Bowie.
lightning strikes double
Kylie Minogue, Again
Fortunately, this pattern offers much more concrete examples of popstar gender confusion. Kanye West attended the VMA's with a previously unknown exotic dancer who goes by the pattern-appropriate name Amber Rose.
the blind following the blindfolded
Ms Rose more than satisfies the pattern: a) she'll be playing the robot goddess in Kanye's upcoming "Robocop" video, b) she came to the VMA's dressed in a snake-skin catsuit, and c) in a recent photoshoot, she emulated western pop's most famous black androgyny symbol, Grace Jones.
caged androgynous heat
I mean c'mon now...
The pattern of androgyny reveals the push by the pop culture string-pullers to fuel the flames of gender confusion that were sparked by the acceptance of cross-dressing pop icons like David Bowie and Grace Jones. This is where the blurry line between "artificial" synchronicities and cosmic synchronicities is revealed. The transcending of traditional gender roles is a logical step in our society's progression, and has become a sign of liberation for women (and men) looking to upset the status quo (i.e., the short boyish haircut vs. the long, flowing model-esque locks). The zenith of this boy-girl pattern was reached in the 1980's, and, as trends go, is being revived/re-interpreted in our time. Perhaps the passing of our greatest symbol of androgyny on June 25th was more timely than we can know.
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